Vatican City, Oct 1, 2014 / 12:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An elderly couple who lost everything after fleeing their home due to ISIS violence met with Pope Francis on Sunday, saying the encounter gave them hope because they know they are not alone. &ld... Read more
Vatican City, Oct 1, 2014 / 10:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis and Vatican officials are due to meet this week with the nuncios to seven Middle Eastern nations to discuss responses to the Islamic State, and in particular how to provide humanitarian aid to displaced persons. The summit will be held at the Vatican Oct. 2-4. On Tuesday, Holy See press officer Fr. Federico Lombardi indicated the summit will include the State Secretariat, the Holy See's representatives to the UN in New York and in Geneva, as well as the heads of several dicasteries. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, will chair the meeting, and Pope Francis will greet the participants in an audience on Thursday. Pope Francis will meet the participants to the summit in audience Oct. 2. On the Vatican side, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, will chair the meeting. Other officials of the state secretariat participating are: Archbishop Angelo Becciu, deputy; Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for relations with states; and his deputy, Antoine Camilleri. Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and a former ambassador to Iraq, will also be present. He was sent to Iraq this summer by Pope Francis, where he met with religious and civil authorities and delivered a $1 million gift from the Pope for displaced persons. Other Vatican officials participating are: Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches; Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; Cardinal Antonio Maria Vegliò, president of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples; and Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. The nuncios who will take part to the summit are: Archbishop Giorgio Lingua, nuncio to Iraq and Jordan; Archbishop Nicola Caccia, nuncio to Lebanon; Archbishop Jean-Paul Gobel, nuncio to Egypt; Archbishop Mario Zenari, nuncio to Syria; and Archbishop Leo Boccardi, nuncio to Iran. Archbishops Bernardito Auza and Silvano Maria Tomasi, the Holy See's permanent observers to the United Nations in New York and in Geneva, will be present as well. The summit's schedule has not been disclosed, aside from the audience with Pope Francis. According to sources, all the participants are called to voice their concerns and their proposals to improve the Vatican's diplomatic and humanitarian efforts in the Middle East. The summit has been prompted by the rise of the Islamic State, a caliphate established in portions of Syria and Iraq earlier this year. The caliphate has persecuted all non-Sunni persons in its territory: there are now more than 1.2 million internally displaced persons in Iraq, and tens of thousands have become refugees. The meeting will zero-in on the general situation in Middle East and possible diplomatic responses; on the plight of Christians and the way to address it; and how to better deliver the help and supplies that have been delivered. Already, some $126 million has been sent to Christians in Iraq, and some 2.2 million persons could benefit from the financial aid delivered by Catholic institutions. Participants may also discuss ways to improve coordination among apostolic nuncios and local bishops in the region. For refugees and the internally displaced, funds are needed to winterize camps, and it must be decided whether to encourage the displaced to remain in the region, or to help them leave their home countries. The Christian population in Iraq has plummeted to 400,000, down from about 1.5 million before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. One year ago, on Sept. 7, 2013, Pope Francis led a day prayer and fasting for peace in Syria, which has been embroiled in civil war which began early in 2011 and which has killed more than 191,000. The day of prayer and fasting followed a Sept. 5 meeting between Archbishop Mamberti and 71 ambassadors accredited to the Holy See. At that time the archbishop explained that the Holy See's plan for peace was based on the restoration of dialogue among the parties; and maintaining the integrity of the country. This plan could be applied to Iraq as well, and is likely to be discussed at the summit. It will also discuss the need for international intervention against the Islamic State, which Cardinal Parolin described as “a terrorist organization which threatens all states, vowing to dissolve them and to replace them with a pseudo-religious world government.” Cardinal Parolin addressed the United Nations Sept. 30, stating that it “is both licit and urgent to stop aggression through multilateral action and a proportionate use of force.” “As a representative body of a worldwide religious community embracing different nations, cultures and ethnicities, the Holy See earnestly hopes that the international community will assume responsibility in considering the best means to stop all aggression and avoid the perpetration of new and even graver injustices,” he added. Read more
Vatican City, Oct 1, 2014 / 04:07 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Law professors, family advocates and clergy have asked those participating in the upcoming synod of bishops to consider how best to help couples understand and live their marriages, in light of such negative family trends as divorce, cohabitation, and pornography. More than 40 academics signed the open letter, which has been sent to the Holy Father and to the cardinals and bishops participating in the upcoming Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family. “Men and women need desperately to hear the truth about why they should get married in the first place,” the letter states. “And, once married, why Christ and the Church desire that they should remain faithful to each other throughout their lives on this earth.” The letter said that men and women need to know that in times of marital difficulty the Church will be “a source of support, not just for individual spouses, but for the marriage itself.” The synod of bishops will meet in Rome Oct. 5-19, as a preparatory meeting for the 2015 bishops’ synod; it is intended to focus on the pastoral challenges facing the family “in the context of evangelization.” While much of the media coverage preceding the synod has focused on the question of Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried, the open letter pointed to a much broader array of marriage and family issues. Signatories of the letter to the upcoming synod include academics, priests and Catholic speakers, as well as non-Catholics, such as Protestant minister Rick Warren. Thomas Farr, director of the Religious Freedom Project at Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, signed the letter, as did Virginia psychologist Hilary Towers. Also among the signers are Princeton law professor Robert George; Harvard law professor Mary Ann Glendon, a former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See; Notre Dame professor Gerard Bradley; and other academics from Italy, Spain, Chile, Australia, the U.K., and Ireland. Other signatories are public policy commentators such as Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation; Jennifer Roback Morse of the Ruth Institute; Mary Eberstadt of the Ethics and Public Policy Center; Patrick Fagan of the Family Research Council; and David Quinn of the Iona Institute. The letter said that the family is, with the Church, “the greatest institutional manifestation of Christ’s love.” “For those who wish to love as He would have us love, marriage and the family are indispensable, both as vehicles of salvation and as bulwarks of human society.” The letter suggested that married couples and their children can be evangelized through building “small communities of married couples who support each other unconditionally in their vocations to married life.” “These communities would provide networks of support grounded in the bonds of faith and family, commitment to lifelong marriage, and responsibility to and for each other.” The letter cited “dramatic increases” in cohabitation, divorce, and non-marital childbearing in the Americas, Europe and Oceania in recent decades. The U.S. marriage rate is at an all-time low, cohabitation is increasingly acceptable, and more than half of births to U.S. women under age 30 take place outside of marriage, it notes. Close to half of first marriages in the U.S. end in divorce. These trends are linked to poverty, especially for women and children. The trends also appear to be evident around the world. The letter said there are “significant” social costs to pornography and to “no fault” divorce laws that help dissolve marriages, “often against the will of spouses who stand firm in their marital commitment.” The letter suggested that the Pontifical Council on the Family should respond to the “marriage crisis” by conducting “cross-discipline, longitudinal research” on the role of pornography and “no fault” divorce. Other suggestions included seminary courses covering social science's evidence on the benefits of marriage and the consequences of divorce and cohabitation on society. Signatories suggested that regular prayers be said for “strong, faithful marriages,” and that more homilies address the spiritual and social value of marriage, and that more work be done to educate Catholics about the influences of both good marriages and divorces on their family and friends. The letter also said more should be done to encourage and support the reconciliation of separated or divorced spouses. Further, it encouraged support efforts to preserve “what is right and just in existing marriage laws” and to resist “any changes” that would further weaken marriage as a union of one man and one woman. “To accomplish any of these goals on an international scale would be a great step forward for marriages and families. To accomplish them all may turn the worldwide marriage crisis on its head.” “With your leadership we will help marriages to succeed and flourish by placing the greatest value on marital commitment - at every level of society, in every corner of the world.” Read more
Cordoba, Spain, Oct 1, 2014 / 02:14 am (CNA/EWTN News).- With the Synod on the Family just days away, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith cautioned against deconstructing the Gospel message to make it artificially easy. “We can talk a lot about God, and in the end, do so without faith,” warned Cardinal Gerhard Mueller during a Sept. 28 Mass at the cathedral in Cordoba, where he delivered an address on St. John of Avila. “We can 'deconstruct' the Gospel and Tradition and remake them to the liking of today's world, making their demands easy and accommodating them to the fragile, superficial, immature and post-modern man.” However, he cautioned, if we were to deprive ourselves “of the chance to confront our lives with the divine Word, we would also lose the chance to enjoy the authentic happiness that Christ brings, who did not come to take away the crosses of life but to make our burden lighter and to encourage us to always do the will of God.” We encounter the Lord's company “on the road that leads to Easter” and not in a watered-down form of Christianity that makes no demands, he said. “Only Christ and his love can make the cross of illness, of a job loss, of loneliness and widowhood, of infidelity or the failure of marriage, less burdensome,” the cardinal explained. He also stressed the importance of defending life, the family and religious freedom. “The family should be firmly defended as the place and environment in which each person is filled with love and grows in his or efforts and willingness to sacrifice,” he said. “The duality between man and woman is necessary for the constitution of a marriage and a family, and no child should be deprived of his natural right to have a father and a mother.” Citing St. John Paul II's encyclical Centesimus Annus, Cardinal Mueller underscored the defense of “the right to life, of which the right of a child to grow up under the heart of a mother is an integral part.” He noted that “the Christian promotion of the rights of man is clear with regards to the information and construction of a collective conscience, in everything related to the questions of the inviolability of human life, seeking to influence the norms and laws aimed at defending life.” The Church stands up for the dignity of each person, “as the foundation of life in common for all people of different beliefs,” he said. “On the basis of natural law, the Church, in close union with other social groups, must confront the State or certain totalitarian ideologies that seek to suppress or eliminate religion or freedom of conscience, as the Second Vatican Council made clear in its Declaration on religious freedom, Dignitatis Humanae,” the cardinal explained. Read more
Vatican City, Oct 1, 2014 / 01:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis dedicated his weekly general audience to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, saying that rather than making us better than others, they commission us to serve our brothers and sisters.... Read more
Vatican City, Oct 1, 2014 / 12:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his first meeting as Pope with the Focolare movement, Pope Francis on Friday encouraged them in their effort for unity, as the movement has started a process of internal renewal which has brought to a change of more than 70 percent of their previous board. Pope Francis received the 473 members of the Focolare movement general assembly Sept. 26, a few days after the assembly had re-elected Maria Voce as president of the movement and at the same time had elected a new co-president, Fr. Jesùs Moràn Cepedano, and changed three-fourths of the council that is called to assist and support the work of the president. “The average age of the new council is 16 years younger than that of the previous council; the 30 members comes from 20 different countries” said Michele Zanzucchi, director of the Focolare movement's Italian magazine Città Nuova, in a press conference held Sept. 26. The president, co-president, and counselors have been entrusted with a six-year mandate. Meeting the delegates, Pope Francis acknowledged that “the Work of Mary, that everyone knows as the Focolare movement, was a little seed in the Catholic Church’s womb, that in the course of the years has brought to life a tree which now extends its branches in all the expressions of the Christian family and also among members of different religions and among many who cultivate justice and solidarity together with the search for truth.” Pope Francis entrusted the members of Focolare movement and all those who share the spirit and the ideal of the movement with three key words: contemplation; going out to engage in dialogue; and formation of youth. Pope Francis stressed first of all that “we need to contemplate God and the beauty of his love,” keeping in mind that “to contemplate means to live together with brothers and sisters, breaking with them the bread of communion and fraternity,” since “contemplation that leaves people outside is a lie, it is narcissism.” Pope Francis then said that “going out is the movement of evangelization.” “Going out as Jesus went out of the Father to announce the word of love to everyone, to the point of giving all of himself on the cross.” The Roman Pontiff underscored that “we have to learn from Jesus the dynamics of exodus and gift, of going out from ourselves, walking and always seeding again, in order to generously communicate to everybody the love of God.” The third key word is “being a school,” because “we need to educate, as the Gospel asks, new men and women, and this is the reason why a school of humanity based on Jesus’ humanity is needed.” Education is a key focus of the Focolare movement, especially in view of the synod for the family. “A synod is not needed to solve disciplinary matters,” commented Jesùs Moràn, the movement's new co-president. “It must go in-depth to the potential the family has at present, and at the same time be able to welcome the sufferings of the family.” Maria Voce added that “re-discovering the family’s identity means being aware of the huge potential of the testimony of the conjugal life.” After the meeting with Pope Francis, Voce commented that “Pope is right, dialogue is not an easy task,” but “we can afford it, if we start from our very hearts.” The general assembly lasted almost one month, but it was preceded by a series of around 3,000 proposals collected all over the world that had been food for the assembly’s discussion. “That they all may be one” is the passage which the assembly chose as the Focolare movement’s guideline for the next six years. Read more
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sep 30, 2014 / 10:58 pm (CNA).- A Brazilian couple who will speak at the upcoming Synod on the Family at the Vatican said they hope to convey the necessity of realizing God’s essential role in marriage and family life. “When we received the news it was a surprise because this is such an important event. We are thankful for this great blessing. It's an honor and at the same time a great responsibility,” said Arturo and Hermelinda de Sa Zamperline, who come from San Jose de Campos in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The couple directs the Teams of Our Lady Movement in their city, and together with 13 other couples, they have been invited to attend the synod as auditors, which means they will be able to address the bishops but not vote. The synod, scheduled for October 5-19, will bring together bishops from around the country, as well as other members of the Church, to discuss challenges facing the family. In statements to CNA, Arturo and Hermelinda said they are excited and nervous about their role in the upcoming synod, where they will speak on the topic, “Openness to life and educational responsibility.” “We have received a lot of material to read and we are studying quite a bit,” Hermelinda explained. “We were chosen to speak for exactly four minutes about the pastoral challenges and respect for openness to life. Our remarks should reflect our experience as a Christian family and our pastoral experience.” “We are called to testify to love, forgiveness and praise of God. We should have a life that is consistent with the faith we profess. We should be very thankful to God, have a prayer life and participate frequently in the Eucharist. And we should do this with conviction and joy, it should not be a burden,” she added. The couple said marriage involves three people: “Us and God, because where He is, there is charity, there is true love.” “Before, we were Sunday Catholics, and as we began to understand the value of the sacrament of marriage, we experienced a new awakening in our lives,” they explained. That change came while they were living in Rio de Janeiro, during a retreat for parents organized by the school their children were attending. “We felt a fire reignite in us at that event. Our love for Jesus grew as well as the will to give our relationship to God in a greater way.” Hermelinda said the secret to a happy marriage is prayer and dialogue. “We can overcome challenges with greater ease when we know that our best includes God.” Read more
Panjim, India, Sep 30, 2014 / 07:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Spiritual formation and catechesis are underway to prepare for the upcoming exposition in Goa of the relics of St. Francis Xavier, the “Apostle to the Far East.” The Archdiocese of Goa and Daman announced last year that the relics would be exposed at Se Cathedral from Nov. 22, 2014, until Jan. 4, 2015. The exposition, a decennial event – one that happens only once every ten years – is expected to draw millions of pilgrims to the Indian state of Goa. “For Catholics, the exposition of St. Francis Xavier's relics is an important celebration of faith,” Fr. Alfred Vaz, head of the St. Francis Xavier exposition committee and rector of Se Cathedral, told CNA Sept. 26. “Parishes in the diocese are spiritually preparing under three sets of compiled catechesis, pointed towards faith promotion and under the footprint of the call for new evangelization following upon the Year of Faith.” The three sets of catechesis, Fr. Vaz explained, are celebration of faith, known locally as “bhavartacho sombrom”; strengthening Small Christian Communities; and communitarian aspects of the faith. St. Francis Xavier was among the first companions of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and was one of the first members of the Society of Jesus. He evangelized in India, Indonesia, and Japan, and died in 1552 on his way to China. His remains are normally kept at the Basilica of Bom Jesus in an elevated silver casket. On Nov. 22, Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay will celebrate a Mass to begin the exposition; the relics will be transferred in a solemn procession from the Bom Jesus basilica to Se Cathedral, both of which are in Old Goa. St. Francis Xavier's relics will be available for public veneration, attracting millions of tourists and pilgrims from across India and the world before being solemnly transferred back to the Basilica of Bom Jesus. Daily veneration will be held 12 hours a day, from seven to seven, with Mass and confessions offered nearly constantly and in various languages, Fr. Vaz said. “Special counters with multimedia featuring faith formation materials will invite tourists and pilgrims of other faiths to an inter-religious dialogue, and free resource literature will be available,” he added. Fr. Vaz also recounted that the residents of Goa – irrespective of religion – hold St. Francis Xavier in high esteem, and call him “Goencho Saib”, Konkani for “Sir” or “Lord.” Many also believe he protects Goa from natural disasters, the priest noted. The Goa and Daman archdiocese has squashed local rumors that Pope Francis would visit the exhibition of his fellow Jesuit's relics. The concluding Mass will be said Jan. 4, 2015, by Archbishop Salvatore Pennachio, apostolic nuncio to India. The last exposition of the relics, in 2004, drew more than 2.5 million pilgrims to Goa. The state's government, together with the national government, has made extensive plans for the religious tourism associated with the exhibition, adding the event to the tourism ministry's calendar. The Goan government and local administration will also work to ensure pilgrims' safety and provide infrastructure for the exposition's success. Fr. Anthony Dias, head of the pastoral center of the nearby Diocese of Karwar, in Karnataka state, told CNA that St. Francis Xavier “stands as an exemplary model for pursing the zeal of mission and continues to draw millions, even today after his death centuries ago.” He noted that millions of people from various religious communities come to venerate the saint in thanksgiving for fulfillment of votive prayers. “Numerous miracles are evidences of the Spirit of God among us,” Fr. Dias said. He noted the relics' attraction of both pilgrims as tourists, as they are incorrupt. “Interestingly, there are few who come in amazement to witness a human body that has endured against the state of decomposing without any chemical substances for centuries, who hit their guts and then acclaim that (he) is indeed a holy man.” “For Catholics, death lies in the Paschal mystery of resurrection,” Fr. Dias added, “while this new life after death, and the soul returning to God, bewilders the people of other faiths.” Faiths native to India, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, believe in reincarnation, and so the veneration of relics is a notable point of dialogue between them and Catholics. “The exposition of the mortal remains thus contributes to interreligious dialogue and theological faith sharing experiences,” Fr. Dias said, recounting his experiences at the Karwar diocese's shine to St. Francis Xavier located in Chandavar. Read more
Orlando, Fla., Sep 30, 2014 / 04:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic medical professionals can lead other people to God by dedicating themselves to holiness and following the examples of saintly doctors, Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Neb., said. &... Read more
Baton Rouge, La., Sep 30, 2014 / 04:44 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Nearly 20 organizations, both Catholic and other denominations of Christian, have joined the Diocese of Baton Rouge in asking the Supreme Court to protect a priest from being forced to violate the Seal of Confession. The group heading the support for the diocese, Catholic Action for Faith and Family, stated it “fully supports the Diocese of Baton Rouge’s position that ‘civil courts are entirely without jurisdiction to decide what constitutes a sacrament in the Catholic Church’.” “For this reason Catholic Action has filed an Amicus Brief, supported by 17 other Catholic and Christian organizations. The brief decries the fact that the Louisiana Supreme Court has directed the trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing to decide whether or not a sacrament actually took place.” The case in question is a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling that a jury, not the Catholic Church, may determine if a priest’s conversation with a minor about sexual abuse was made in the Sacrament of Confession and thus is protected under confidentiality in state law. The specific conversation between diocesan priest Fr. Jeff Bayhi and a minor who said she was abused by a parishioner allegedly took place during the Sacrament of Confession in May. According to the court’s ruling, Fr. Bayhi could be forced to testify in court about the contents of confession, or whether it took place. However, under Church teaching, the “Seal of Confession” compels a priest not to reveal, under any circumstances, the contents of a confession. A violation of the seal incurs automatic excommunication. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents' lives.” A state appeals court initially ruled that the alleged confession was “confidential” and thus Fr. Bayhi did not have to testify in court as to its alleged contents or whether it even took place. However, the state Supreme Court reversed that decision, saying that the Seal of Confession did not shield Fr. Bayhi from mandatory reporting laws because the girl herself had waived her confidentiality privilege, so the priest could no longer invoke the privilege either. The diocese is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. Eighteen organizations filed an amicus brief in support of the diocese, including the groups Catholic Answers, the Catholic League, Priests for Life, and John Paul the Great Catholic University. However, the brief was also signed by a number of non-Catholic groups, including interdenominational Christian groups like Gospel of Life Ministries, the National Pro-Life Religious Council, the National Clergy Council, and the National Pro-Life Center. “[We] have an interest in preserving the right of religions to define in their own view which communications are confessional and absolutely protected from disclosure, and to protect the right of ministers to refuse to break the seal of the confessional if their religious beliefs require the maintenance of that seal,” the 18 organizations wrote in an amicus brief supporting the diocese. The groups emphasized that the case carries grave First Amendment implications. Previous Supreme Court precedent makes clear, they stated, that the rights of priests and penitents “are protected not only by statutes, but also by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.” The current state Supreme Court decision violates both the Religious Question Doctrine and the Ministerial Exception, principles that are already established, the groups claimed. The Religious Question Doctrine deals with the government’s power to determine a religious claim from a secular point of view. In this case, “the secular answer to the religious question of how to define a ‘Confession’ would override the religious answer,” the brief stated. “The priest-penitent privilege stands solely on religious justifications. It is a practice unique to religion, and especially unique to the Catholic faith. Adopting any definition of a ‘Confession,’ beyond how a particular religion defines ‘Confession,’ will potentially override the religious definition of a ‘Confession’ and is constitutionally impermissible.” The court ruling also violated the Ministerial Exception protections of the First Amendment, the groups claimed. In a 2012 ruling n Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the government could not interfere in the employment of ministers by churches. The brief cited that ruling, emphasizing that priests are automatically excommunicated – the highest canonical penalty – if they break the Seal of Confession, even if a court tries to force them to do so. “This means that a priest who has incurred an automatic excommunication for breaking the seal is no longer allowed to act as a priest. He is disqualified from ministry as long as the excommunication is in effect. Thus, the action of the state of Louisiana would coerce priests into doing acts that will disqualify them from ministry in the Catholic Church and thus directly impact who the Church is able to appoint and retain as its ministers, in violation of Hosanna-Tabor,” the brief said. Read more
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